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Biography of Tao-hsüanName: Tao-hsüanBirth Date: 596 Death Date: 667 Place of Birth: China Nationality: Chinese Gender: Male Occupations: monk Tao-hsüan The Chinese Buddhist monk Tao-hsüan (596-667) was an important Buddhist scholar and the founder of the Disciplinary school, Lü-tsung, of Chinese Buddhism.Tao-hsüan was born in southeast China 7 years after the unification of China by the Sui dynasty, an event which brought to a close nearly 4 centuries of political division. At least several generations of his ancestors had served as officials in the southern Chinese dynasties; nothing is known about his father. His family must have been well-to-do, because as a boy he received a classical education in the Confucian canon, a privilege of the wealthy and leisured class.There is evidence that the family's fortunes slumped under the Sui regime (581-617). Perhaps despairing of secular success, Tao-hsüan turned toward Buddhism, which was widespread and well supported in China at that time. When he was 15 he began to study the Buddhist classics under the …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…and writing.In his old age Tao-hsüan was eager to practice the ideas that he had developed. He was mainly concerned with the actual practice of Buddhism, particularly with matters of monastic discipline. A special building was constructed to house an ordination platform, where his school could practice his formulas for religious discipline and ceremony.Tao-hsüan was a mystic and visionary. Insisting that his interpretations of doctrine were simply what he had been told by the gods, he dogmatically asserted that their otherworldly provenance freed his views from error. He passed his teachings on to a small group of disciples who carried on after his death in 667. Further Reading There is nothing available in English on Tao-hsüan's life. For a general interpretation and discussion on Buddhism in China see Arthur F. Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (1959), and Kenneth K. S. Ch'en, Buddhism in China (1964). |